Services node routing service

ABSTRACT

A method and system for treating telephone calls at a services node prior to completing the telephone call. The services node may provide a variety of services to treat the telephone call such as a Personal Access Service or playing a pre-recorded message. After treatment at the services node, the system recognizes that the telephone call has already been treated at a services node and the call is completed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and device for routing andcompleting telephone calls. More particularly, the present inventionrelates to treating a telephone call at a Services Node prior tocompleting the call to the appropriate telephone number.

B. Description of the Related Art

A Personal Access Service ("PAS") allows a telephone subscriber to bereached at different locations by dialing a single telephone number thataccesses the PAS system. PAS directs the telephone call to theappropriate telephone number where the called subscriber is likely to bereached according to a programmed criterion. For example, telephonecalls to people who work in their business office during the morning butwork from home during the afternoon can be routed to their officetelephone during the morning hours and to their home telephone duringthe afternoon and evening hours.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,541 to Fleischer et al. describes the forwarding ofincoming telephone calls defined by a routing list including alternatetelephone numbers to which calls originally placed to the subscriber'snumber may be routed in an attempt to reach the subscriber. The routinglist may forward all incoming calls to other telephone numbers or mayforward only calls from selected groups of one or more telephonenumbers. Incoming calls may be forwarded according to the time of theday, day of the week, a percentage allocation, a specific date or theoriginating location of the call.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,235 to Hetz describes an Integrated Services ControlPoint ("ISCP") of an Advanced Intelligent Network ("AIN") which routestelephone calls based on an internal criteria. The call routing criteriaare maintained in a database and may be based on the time of the day orthe telephone number was dialed.

Typically, PAS uses a computer system to store routing profilesspecifying where telephone calls to PAS subscribers should be directed.Callers trying to reach PAS subscribers dial the PAS access telephonenumber associated with the subscriber they wish to reach. PAS determinesthe subscriber that the caller is trying to reach and where the callshould be routed from the subscriber's routing profile. PAS then sendsthe call to the appropriate telephone number.

One problem with this PAS arrangement is the subscriber must maintainand callers must dial a separate telephone number to access the PASsystem. The PAS access telephone number is a different telephone numberthan the subscribers' home or office telephone numbers where they arenormally reached. Simply forwarding an existing telephone number, suchas a subscriber's existing home or business telephone number, to PASdoes not work. Callers attempting to reach subscribers at their existinghome or office telephone numbers will be forwarded to the PAS system.However, when PAS determines that the call should be routed back to thesubscribers' home or office, the telephone number is still set toforward the call to PAS. To address this problem, the office telephonenumber could be forwarded to PAS, but then a second line would have tobe added to receive the telephone call from PAS. Thus, telephonesubscribers must still maintain a separate telephone number to allow thecallers trying to reach them to access the PAS system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more readily appreciated upon reference to thefollowing disclosure when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an overall system diagram of the circuit-switching network inaccordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 show block diagrams of the system of FIG. 1 processing atelephone call in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 shows a high-level flow chart showing the call processing of thesystem of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention provides a Services Node Routing Service ("SNRS")for treating telephone calls at a services node before completing thetelephone call. The services node may provide a variety of services,such as a Personal Access Service ("PAS"), to treat the telephone call.The present embodiment allows PAS subscribers to use their home oroffice telephone numbers to access the PAS system without requiring thatthey maintain a separate PAS access telephone number. PAS subscribersare saved the cost of maintaining an additional PAS access telephonenumber, and callers are saved the inconvenience of having to call aspecial PAS access telephone number. In addition to PAS, the presentinvention can be used to treat telephone calls at services nodesproviding other types of services.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a circuit-switched network 10 includinga plurality of conventional local end offices or originating offices 12capable of implementing the present embodiment of the invention. Forillustration purposes, only a limited number of originating offices 12are shown. The originating offices 12 may be implemented with aconventional analog switch such as a 1AESS or mobile cellular telephoneswitch. Of course, the originating offices 12 may also be implementedwith a Lucent 5ESS, Nortel DMS-100/200, or Siemens EWSD switch.Alternatively, originating calls may come from a trunk circuit from along distance network. In the preferred embodiment, the circuit-switchednetwork 10 uses a common channel signaling protocol to control theinitiation, routing, and termination of telephone calls. Preferably, thenetwork 10 operation is controlled by an out-of-band signaling systemsuch as Signaling System 7 ("SS7"), known and widely used throughout thePSTN in North America. The terminating offices 16 may have AdvancedIntelligent Network ("AIN") capability and may be referred to as aService Switching Point ("SSP"). It should be understood, however, thatthe portion of the network 10 servicing the originating offices 12 maybe a conventional network without AIN capability or a cellular telephonenetwork.

A PAS subscriber 14 is provided telephone service by a SSP 16 with AINcapability. The exemplary embodiments described herein are described inconnection with Advanced Intelligent Network Systems GenericRequirements: Switching Systems (GR-1298-CORE) and the AdvancedIntelligent Network Generic Requirements: Switch-Service Control PointAdjunct Interface (GR-1299-CORE), which are fully incorporated byreference. AIN features allow the telephone network to control therouting of telephone calls based on a programmed criterion. Generally,in an AIN network the switches detect call processing events known asAIN "triggers". For ordinary telephone calls, no events trigger AINprocessing and calls are handled without reference to a database forinstructions. When an AIN trigger is encountered, however, callprocessing is suspended and a query is made to a SCP 20 for instructionson how to handle the telephone call.

With AIN, the network controls the routing of telephone calls based onthe originator or the recipient of the telephone call and the servicelogic within AIN network elements. The SSP 16 is a programmablecircuit-switch equipped with AIN triggers to recognize AIN calls, launchqueries to Service Control Points ("SCP") 20, and receive responses inthe form of data and commands from the SCP 20 to process and routetelephone calls. The SCP 20 may route the call according to differentfactors such as the time of the day, day of the week, the originatingstation type, the subscriptions of the calling or called party, thedialed telephone number, the originating telephone number, etc. The SSP16 is in communication with the SCP 20 via a network of Signal TransferPoints ("STP") 18 implementing the AIN signaling network. The STPs 18provide an out-of-band or common channel network to transmit signalingprotocols between SSPs 16 and SCPs 20. Preferably, STPs 18 form apacket-switched network which routes messages from SSPs 16 to the SCPs20 using Global Title Translations.

The SCP 20 contains service logic and data information about the networkand its subscribers. The SCP 20 is preferably implemented with amicroprocessor controlled computer system using computer peripheralscontrolled by application software implementing SS7 AIN functionality.The SCP 20 data information may be maintained in a computer database.SCP 20 typically includes service logic that operates on the data todetermine how telephone calls are to be handled. Generally, the SCP 20responds to queries from the SSPs 16 to determine the processing oftelephone calls based on its service logic and data. The SCP 20 datathat is maintained depends on the applications, the network, and itssubscribers. In the present example, the SCP 20 data may includeinformation about the various service nodes 30 such as the PASplatform(s) and the directory numbers associated with various servicesnodes 30. The data may include a trigger type, a Called Party TelephoneNumber (dialed telephone number), the subscriptions or servicesavailable to telephone subscribers, relationships between subscribertelephone number and terminating telephone numbers to the services node,and the originating telephone numbers of services nodes. For example,each subscriber telephone number may have a unique terminating telephonenumber at the PAS services node. The SCP 20 may include software andlogic that associates Called Party Telephone Numbers with a terminatingtelephone number of the services node, and compares Calling PartyTelephone Numbers to originating telephone directory numbers associatedwith the service nodes 30 as will be described in more detail below.STPs are available from telecommunications equipment vendors such as DSCand Nortel and SCPs are available from a number of telephone switchvendors such as Lucent Technologies and Erickson.

In the exemplary embodiment, the services node 30 includes a PAS systemto connect callers to the appropriate telephone number where the calledparty 14 is most likely to be reached. The PAS services node 30 candetermine the routing of the incoming calls based on a number ofprogrammed criteria such as the time of the day, the day of the week, apersonal schedule determined by the called party, the calling party,etc. The PAS system can be implemented in a variety of ways. Preferably,the PAS system uses a disk-based computer system with software and logicto determine how calls are to be routed. The PAS system can determinethe Called Party Telephone Number from the unique terminating telephonenumber where the call comes into the PAS service node 30. For example, arouting profile contains the criteria to determine where calls to aCalled Party Telephone Number are to be forwarded in order to reach thecalled party. The PAS services node 30 can then forward or initiate thecall to the appropriate telephone number. The PAS system may also handlecalls according to the calling party. Calls from certain callers may beforwarded to the appropriate telephone number or screened. PAS systemsare available from a number of suppliers such as Comverse TechnologyCorp.

In the present embodiment, telephone lines associated with subscribers14 using PAS are programmed with an AIN Termination Attempt Trigger("TAT"). The telephone lines 14 using PAS may be the subscriber's officeand/or home telephone lines. Incoming telephone calls to PAS subscribersencounter the AIN TAT. In response to the TAT, the SSP 16 providingservice to the telephone number suspends the normal call processing ofthe incoming call and initiates a query to the SCP 20 to determine howthe call is to be handled. The SCP 20 determines whether the call is toa Services Node Routing Service subscriber using the trigger type andthe called telephone number. The SCP 20 service logic determinesprocessing at a services node is necessary by associating the CalledParty Telephone Number with the terminating telephone number of aservices node. The SCP 20 responds by instructing the SSP 16 to send thecall on to the services node 30 rather than completing the call to theCalled Party Telephone Number. In this example, the SCP 20 sends the SSP16 the terminating telephone number of the service node to forward thetelephone call. The SCP 20 may determine whether and where to forwardthe telephone call according to the time of the day, day of the week,calling party, etc. The SSP 16 then connects the call to the servicesnode 30 for treatment according to the response of the SCP 20. SS7connectivity is required between the SSP 16 and the services node 30.The SSP 16 may connect calls to the services node 30 by a telephoneline, trunk interface, Integrated Services Digital Network Primary RateInterface, Integrated Services Digital Network Basic Rate Interface,Direct Inward Dial, etc. It should be understood that the SSP 16 may beconnected to the services node 30 through a number of intermediateoffices.

The services node 30 may provide a wide variety of treatments. Aservices node 30 can have a wide variety of voice and/or datainterfaces. Preferably, the services node 30 has a computer program(s)and service logic to provide one or more voice/data services. Examplesof services nodes functions are speech recognition, playing recordedannouncements, DTMF tone recognition, and message storage and retrieval(voice and fax). Generally, services node 30 may treat the telephonecall by simply playing the caller a pre-recorded message or it may routethe call to another telephone number such as in the PAS system. Ofcourse, the services node 30 may also apply a combination of differenttreatments. After treatment by the services node 30, the call iscompleted to the appropriate telephone number 14 which may be the sametelephone number from which the call was forwarded to the services node.An attempt to complete the call to the subscriber's PAS access telephonenumber, however, encounters the TAT set on the telephone number. The TATcauses the SSP 16 to again suspend the call and query the SCP 20 forinstructions on handling the call. In accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention, during this subsequent query to the SCP 20 it isrecognized that the call has been previously treated by the servicesnode 30 based on comparing the Calling Party Telephone Number to theoriginating telephone number of the services node(s). If the CallingParty Telephone Number is equal to the originating telephone number ofthe services node 30, the call is originating from the services node 30and has already been treated. The SCP 20 instructs the SSP 16 tocomplete the call to the appropriate telephone number 14. If the CallingParty Telephone Number is unavailable, the SCP 20 service logic assumesthat the telephone call has not yet been treated and the telephone callis forwarded to the services node.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, illustrated is an exemplary embodimentof a system utilizing the Services Node Routing Service in accordancewith the present invention. The system includes a SSP 16 incommunication with a plurality of STPs 18 and SCPs 20 to implement theAIN signaling network. The system also includes an AIN SS7 network 24and the PAS platform 30. For illustration purposes, only one of aplurality of SSPs 16, STPs 18, SCPs 20 and services nodes 30 are shown.

As shown in FIG. 2, the originating caller 12 dials the subscriber'sexisting telephone number, in this example (555) 248-5487. In thisexemplary embodiment, the telephone network 26 originating the telephonecall need not have AIN capability, and may be a conventional analognetwork, cellular network, or a Personal Communication Service ("PCS").The telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network("PSTN"), processes the telephone call such that the SSP 16 providingservice to the Called Party Telephone Number can connect the call to thecalled subscriber's telephone number. The SSP 16, however, has a TAT seton the Called Party Telephone Number that causes the SSP 16 to suspendprocessing of the telephone call and send a query the SCP 20. Forexample, the query may be a Termination₋₋ Attempt query from the SSP 16to the SCP 20. Preferably, the query to the SCP 20 includes the CallingParty Telephone Number (the directory number of the telephoneoriginating the call) and the Called Party Telephone Number. The queryfrom the SSP 16 is connected to the SCP 20 through a network of STPs 18as discussed in connection with FIG. 1.

Preferably, the SCP 20 data contains the terminating telephone numbersand originating telephone numbers of the various service nodes 30. TheSCP 20 includes a computer system with service logic capable ofaccessing the data to associate Called Party Telephone Numbers with theterminating telephone numbers of the appropriate service nodes 30, andcomparing Calling Party Telephone Numbers to the originating telephonenumbers of service nodes 30. If the Called Party Telephone Number isassociated with the terminating telephone number of a services node 30,calls to the telephone number are to be treated at that services node 30terminating telephone number prior to being completed. The SCP 20 isalso capable of comparing Calling Party Telephone Numbers with theoriginating telephone number of services nodes 30 to identify callsoriginating from services node 30. For example, if the Calling PartyTelephone Number matches the originating telephone number of a servicesnode, the telephone call has been originated from a services node. InFIG. 2, the Calling Party Telephone Number is the telephone number ofthe caller and does not match any of the originating telephone numbersof the services node 30. The SCP 20 therefore instructs the SSP 16 toforward the call to the services node 30 by sending the SSP 16 an AINForward₋₋ Call response containing the CalledPartyID, wherein theCalledPartyID is the terminating number for the subscriber of theservices node. Alternatively, the SCP 20 may send a PrimaryTrunkGroup tothe SSP 16 to route the call to the services node 30 over a trunk ratherthan a telephone line. The call is connected to the services node 30which receives and processes the telephone call. The SCP 20 servicelogic may also include a switch such as a software flag or semaphore todisable/enable (Off/On) the routing of telephone calls to the servicesnode 30.

Now referring to FIG. 3, the services node 30 is the PAS system thatdetermines the routing of telephone calls according to programmedcriteria as previously described. The PAS services node 30 determineswhere to route the telephone call according to a routing profilespecifying where the called party is likely to be reached. The PASservices node 30 then initiates a call to connect the caller to thecalled party at the telephone number specified in the routing profile.In this example of the exemplary embodiment, the telephone number PASuses to reach the subscriber is the same telephone number that thecaller originally dialed to reach the subscriber, in this example (555)248-5487. When the PAS services node 30 attempts to call this telephonenumber it also encounters the TAT which suspends the normal callprocessing and again sends a query to the SCP 20. This time, however,the SCP 20 recognizes the Calling Party Telephone Number to be anoriginating telephone number of the PAS services node 30. The calloriginating from the services node 30 indicates the telephone call hasalready been processed and treated. Accordingly, the SCP 20 instructsthe SSP 16 to complete the call to the telephone number with anAuthorize₋₋ Termination response.

Now referring to FIG. 4, in an exemplary embodiment of the Services NodeRouting Service, a high-level logic flow diagram of the Services NodeRouting Service processing a telephone call to a PAS system isdescribed.

At step 110, the calling party goes off-hook and dials the digits of thetelephone number of the PAS subscriber he is attempting to reach. Thedialed telephone number may be the called party's business or hometelephone number. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention,a separate PAS telephone number is not required. PAS subscribers maydesignate telephone calls to one of their telephone numbers, for exampletheir office telephone number, to be directed to PAS for routing. ThePAS subscriber's home or office telephone number can thus be calleddirectly. Alternatively, a PAS subscriber may designate their office andhome telephone numbers to be handled by PAS.

The SSP has a TAT set for each telephone number that the subscriberwishes to be routed using PAS. Alternatively, the trigger may include a3/6/10 Digit Public Office Dialing Plan type trigger or Specific DigitString trigger.

At step 120, when the SSP 16 receives an incoming call to a subscriber'sPAS designated telephone number(s) it encounters the TAT set on thetelephone number associated with PAS. The TAT is an AIN event thatcauses the SSP to suspend normal processing of the call.

At step 130, the telephone call has been suspended and the SSP uses AINto query the SCP 20 (FIG. 1) for instructions regarding the treatment ofthe telephone call. The SSP 16 query is routed to the SCP 20 over theSTP 18 network carrying signaling traffic as shown in FIG. 1.Preferably, the query to the SCP 20 includes information such as theCalled Party Telephone Number (the telephone number which was dialed bythe caller) and the Calling Party Telephone Number associated with theparty originating the telephone call. The Calling Party Number istypically either the telephone number of the caller that initiated thecall or a telephone number associated with the services node completingthe call.

At step 140, the SCP includes service logic to analyze the data androute telephone calls to services nodes. The data preferably includesCalling Party Telephone Numbers associated with the originatingtelephone numbers of services nodes. The SCP can thus identify telephonecalls originating from a services node by comparing the Calling PartyTelephone Number to the originating telephone numbers of the servicesnodes. In practice, the Calling Party Telephone Number may be thetelephone number of the caller or the telephone number associated with aservices node which is now completing the telephone call after treatingit. If the Calling Party Telephone Number is equal to the originatingtelephone number of the services node, the telephone call is originatingfrom the services node and can be completed. At step 150 the telephonecall is completed. If the Calling Party Telephone Number is not equal tothe telephone number assigned to the services node or is not available,the telephone call must be treated at the services node.

At step 160, if the telephone call did not originate from the servicesnode, the telephone call is forwarded to the services node forprocessing or treatment. The services node may include a variety ofdifferent treatments for the telephone call. In this example, theservices node is the PAS system with the appropriate instructions toroute the call to the location where the called subscriber is mostlikely to be reached.

At step 170, the PAS system determines the telephone number where thePAS subscriber is likely to be reached using its routing profile andthen completes the telephone call at step 180. In this example, thetelephone number where PAS determines to complete the call is the sametelephone number that was dialed to access PAS. Of course, PAS mayforward the telephone call to another telephone number where the callmay simply be completed.

At step 120, when PAS attempts to complete the telephone call to the PASaccess telephone number it encounters the TAT again and the processingof the call is again suspended by the SSP to query the SCP at step 130.At step 140, the SCP service logic determines the originating party isequal to the services node, recognizing that the call is originatingfrom the services node. Thus, the call has already been treated at theservices node and should be completed to the telephone number ratherthan being forwarded again to the services node. The SCP instructs theSSP to complete the call at step 150.

In this manner, a PAS subscriber may use his office or home telephonenumbers to access PAS without having to maintain a separate PAS accesstelephone number. Telephone calls to the home or office telephone numbercan then be redirected to PAS for routing instructions and completion tothe appropriate telephone number.

In another embodiment of the invention, the services node may treattelephone calls by simply playing a message such as an informationalmessage advising callers of important news or an advertisement to beplayed before the call is completed. After playing the message for thecallers, the services node may complete the call to the desiredtelephone number in accordance with the method shown in FIG. 4. Forexample, callers to a supermarket may be played an announcement of thestore hours or apprised of sale prices on products before beingconnected to the store operator. Alternatively, the services node mayplay callers a menu of different options to be selected. For example, acaller to a computer manufacturer may be instructed to dial "1" for theSales Department and "2" for the Service Department. The services nodemay then route the call to the appropriate telephone number based on thecaller's response.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.Numerous modifications and variations are possible. The teachings hereinare applicable to a cellular telephone system with AIN capability. Forexample, the steps of the flow diagrams may be taken in sequences otherthan those described and the invention may be practiced with more orfewer elements than those shown. It is intended that the foregoingdetailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting.It is the following claims, including all equivalents, which areintended to define the scope of this invention.

We claim:
 1. A method of treating a telephone call prior to connectingthe telephone call to a telephone number comprising the stepsof:querying a Service Control Point ("SCP") regarding the treatment ofthe telephone call at a services node; associating the telephone numberwith a services node; forwarding the telephone call to the services nodefor treatment; treating the telephone call at the services node, whereinthe step of completing the telephone call further comprises the step of:determining whether the call has already been treated at the servicesnode based on the originating telephone number of the telephone call;and completing the telephone call to the telephone number after treatingthe telephone call at the services node.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein the step of querying the SCP comprises the step of associating aCalled Party Telephone Number with a terminating telephone number of theservices node.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of querying theSCP comprises the step of comparing a Calling Party Telephone Numberwith an originating telephone number of a services node to determine ifthe telephone call was originated from the services node.
 4. The methodof claim 1 wherein the telephone call is completed if an originatingtelephone number of the telephone call comprises an originatingtelephone number of a services node.
 5. The method of claim 1 whereinthe step of treating the telephone call comprises identifying thetelephone number where the telephone call will be completed by aPersonal Access Service ("PAS").
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein thetelephone number to terminate the telephone call is determined based onthe time of the day.
 7. The method of claim 5 wherein the telephonenumber to terminate the telephone call is determined based on the day ofthe week.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the treatment plays a messageto callers.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the message comprises apre-recorded announcement played for callers.
 10. The method of claim 9wherein the message comprises a menu of choices for callers to select.11. The method of claim 1 wherein the forwarding of the telephone callis based on the time of the day.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein theforwarding of the telephone call is based on the day of the week. 13.The method of claim 1 wherein the forwarding of the telephone call isbased on the Calling Party Telephone Number.
 14. The method of claim 1wherein the forwarding of the telephone call is based on the stationtype of the calling party.
 15. The method of claim 1 wherein theforwarding of the telephone call is conditioned on a switch toenable/disable forwarding.
 16. A telephone routing system for treating atelephone call prior to connecting the telephone call to a telephonenumber comprising:a programmable switch with a trigger for signaling aquery to a database; and a Service Control Point ("SCP") incommunication with the programmable switch, wherein the SCP identifies aservices node to treat the telephone call in response to the query, andthe SCP determines whether the services node has treated the telephonecall; wherein the programmable switch further comprises circuitry toconnect the telephone call to the telephone number if the SCP determinesthat the call has been previously treated at the services node.
 17. Theinvention of claim 16 wherein the SCP comprises logic to make anassociation between a called party telephone number and a services nodefor treating telephone calls.
 18. The invention of claim 16 wherein theservices node identifies the telephone number to connect the telephonecall after the treatment at the services node.
 19. The invention ofclaim 16 wherein the SCP comprises logic to access data to determinewhether the telephone call has already been treated by the services nodeby associating a Calling Party Telephone Number to a services node. 20.The invention of claim 19 wherein the SCP logic comprises a PersonalAccess Service.
 21. The invention of claim 19 wherein the SCP logiccomprises a prerecorded message.
 22. The invention of claim 19 whereinthe SCP logic comprises a menu of selections.
 23. The invention of claim16 wherein the trigger comprises an Advanced Intelligent NetworkTermination Attempt Trigger.
 24. The invention of claim 16 wherein thetrigger comprises an Advanced Intelligent Network 3/6/10 Digit PublicOffice Dialing Plan trigger.
 25. The invention of claim 16 wherein thetrigger comprises an Advanced Intelligent Network Specific Digit Stringtrigger.
 26. The invention of claim 16 wherein the trigger is set on atelephone line.
 27. The invention of claim 16 wherein the trigger is seton a trunk circuit.